My Completely Unofficial Advice Page

The comments below are purely those of Anant Sahai and do not reflect the official
positions of the University of
California, the EECS
Department at Berkeley, the other communications
faculty, or anyone else. The topics are compiled from the questions
that I get asked as an advisor and by people who are considering
coming to Berkeley. They may or may not be applicable to you.

For Potential Students

Berkeley is an incredible school. There is no limit to what you can
accomplish here if you are bright and willing to work hard. The
faculty is the best, the department cares deeply about both
undergraduate and graduate education, and your fellow students are
among the absolute best.

For potential undergrads:

There is very little (if any) grade inflation here, so if you do
well, you will have the satisfaction of having earned your marks.

Some commentators complain about the use of graduate
student TAs in research universities. At Berkeley, you will find most
of your TAs (we call them GSIs) to be very bright and a nice
complement to the faculty. TA's are usually closer to you in age and
experience, and can often explain things to you in a different way
than the faculty can. In most courses, you will get access to both a
professor and a TA. This is a very good thing, not a liability.

Class sizes at all the major research universities can sometimes
get very large. Yet at Berkeley, our upper
division classes can be much smaller that the equivalent course would
have been at another school. For example, when I teach EE126,
I usually have between 30-50 students. The analogous course at MIT
(6.041) had around 200-300 students. At MIT however, the large
lecture size is complemented with additional recitation instructors
and tutorial sections. At Berkeley, we would have fewer teaching
assistants for the course because the class is smaller. So this is
more a matter of style than one of having access to teaching resources.

Research opportunities abound for bright students who want to
learn beyond the classroom. You have to take the initiative though.

Your professors are available for one-on-one
interaction. All you have to do is come to our office hours. If you
can't make the posted times, try to set something up by appointment.

Berkeley has something for everyone, but the stronger you
are, the better Berkeley is relative to our competition. If you're
currently the best in your high school and often find yourself
bored in class, then Berkeley can provide you with the challenge
that you need. You will have an opportunity to truly shine here.

The flip side of the above is that if you are not the best,
Berkeley can sometimes become truly overwhelming. When I was a
graduate student at MIT, I observed that the weaker students were
better served at MIT than they were in Berkeley.

For potential graduate students:

The research culture here is collaborative and you will have the
opportunity, should you choose to avail yourself of it, to work
closely with many faculty members and fellow students.

Research groups here vary greatly in size, but in the
theoretical areas they tend to be a lot more intimate (3-6 students
is normal) than you will find at some of our competitor
schools. There is no point in going somewhere if there are no faculty
members with the time to mentor you.

The key to success is the quality of research that you can
do. It is possible to do stellar work here.

In your research, focus on the fundamentals but don't be
unwilling to get your hands dirty with the sometimes grungy details
that you need to work out before exposing the truth.

For Current Students

EECS is not a major for learning buzzwords or cocktail party
conversation, nor is it a matter of memorization. You need to
completely internalize the material so you can apply it. The best way
to learn a skill is to practice it. As such, you should understand
that the assigned homework and projects in your classes constitute a
lower bound on what you need to do. You should supplement your
assignments with drill problems chosen on your own or from your
textbooks.

It is helpful and fun to form a study group in your classes and
to prepare for exams by trying to stump each other with questions
that you come up with on your own.

(ugrads) Don't get stuck in "high-school mode" and
continue trying to game exams and skate by on minimal work. Take
challenging courses and do not let the CalSO orientation people
convince you to dumb down your schedule. You chose Berkeley for a
reason. If you are getting bored, move up to the more challenging
courses.

(grads) Don't get stuck in "undergrad mode." You are not
here to just take courses and do well on exams.

(ugrads) Use Eta
Kappa Nu (HKN) liberally as a resource and join up if
invited. HKN can help you get the most out of EECS. Ask them
questions on all topics.

(grads) Attend seminars regularly,
even those that are not exactly in your research area of
interest. Berkeley gets great talks and you never know where you will
get the key ideas needed to advance your own research in the
future. Two to four hours a week spent in seminars is a good
investment of your time.

(ugrads) If you really want a long-term career in the
area of communications or signal processing, it is very important to
go to graduate school. If you want to get a summer internship or to
get a job immediately after graduation, it helps to know how to
program computers. Plan accordingly.

(grads) Attend the weekly graduate student social hours
and chat with your fellow students after seminars. Your peers are an
incredible resource.

(ugrads) Set yourself a goal of understanding some system
from top to bottom before you graduate. For example, you might want
to know how the entire process of downloading and listening to an MP3
or OGG file works. This can be a good tool for integrating knowledge
across different courses.

(grads) Maintain a list of open problems that you are
interested in. Include everything on the list ranging from vague and
unformulated large problems (e.g. make internet work faster.) to
specific small problems that are already formulated.

(ugrads) Take some upper-division mathematics courses
while you are here. If you are on the EE side of things, try to also
take some of the CS 17x series of courses. If you are on the CS side,
try to take some of the EE12x series. It is a joint department of
EECS for a reason.

Get involved in research as soon as you can. It doesn't have to
be something big or impressive. Many of the faculty have small
projects or ideas that you can try out. Do not feel that you have to
stick with a certain project for your whole time here. This is a
research university with a host of projects. Take advantage of it.